Project 1143,7 Ulyanovsk
Ulyanovsk (Cyrillic: Улья́новск), officially known as Project 1143,7 ''Ulyanovsk'' in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union, are a class of Soviet supercarriers, which began construction in the late 1980s, with the lead ship Soviet aircraft carrier Ulyanovsk being laid down in 1988. Project 1143,7 Ulyanovsk was the first true class of nuclear-powered supercarriers to be built for the Soviet Navy (the others is Project 1160 Eagle and Project 1153 Eagle). The Ulyanovsk class supercarriers are among the largest capital ships ever to be built in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union for the Soviet Navy. Two known supercarriers in the class are the lead ship Ulyanovsk and its sister ship Soviet aircraft carrier Kremlin (Ulyanovsk class aircraft carrier). History The''' Ulyanovsk' '''class aircraft carrier' or Project 1143,7 Ulyanovsk was the first of a class of Soviet nuclear-powered supercarriers which would have offered true blue water aviation capability for the Soviet Navy. This was based upon the 1975 Project 1153 Eagle (which was planned and nine supercarriers were built) and the initial commissioned name was to be Kremlin, but was later given the name Ulyanovsk ''after the Soviet town of Ulyanovsk, which was in turn named after Vladimir Lenin's original name (Ulyanovsk's sister ship was named ''Kremlin, Soviet aircraft carrier Kremlin (Ulyanosk class aircraft carrier)). It would have been 85,000-90,000 tons in displacement (more than the older Forrestal class aircraft carriers but smaller than contemporary Nimitz class aircraft carriers of the United States Navy). Ulyanovsk would have been able to carry the full range of fixed-wing carrier aircraft, as opposed to the limited scope in which Soviet aircraft carrier Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Flota Sovetskogo Soyuza Kuznetsov launched aircraft, by way of a ski jump. The configuration would have been very similar to U.S. Navy carriers though with the typical Soviet practice of adding anti-ship missile (ASM) and surface-to-air missile (SAM) launchers. Its hull was laid down in 1988, launched in 1991 and fully operational and commissioned in 1995. Its follower, Kremlin, was laid down same year, launched in 1991 and commissioned and fully operational in late 1995. Air group The Project 1143,7 Ulyanovsk includes 70 aircraft. It was planned following composition: *Fighter Sukhoi Su-27K - 24 pcs. *Fighter Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29K - 24 pcs. *AEW aircraft Yakovelv Yak-44RLD - 4 pcs. *Anti-submarine helicopter Kamov Ka-27 - 16 pcs. *Search and rescue helicopter Kamov Ka-27PS - 2 pcs. The ship was equipped with two steam catapults "Lighthouse", created by the Proletarian factory , a springboard and 4 arresting gear . For storage of aircraft at the hangar deck had a size of 175 × 32 × 7,9 m on the flight deck of the aircraft rose by 3 lifts with carrying capacity of 50 tons (two on the starboard side and one on the left). In the stern of the optical system is housed landing "Moon". Ships in class *Soviet aircraft carrier Ulyanovsk *Soviet aircraft carrier Kremlin (Ulyanovsk class aircraft carrier Category:Soviet aircraft carriers